No. 19 UConn suffers tough road loss to Xavier, 76-72

The Huskies hit only one three in the second half.

The No. 19 UConn men’s basketball team suffered a tough Big East loss Saturday night, coming up short on the road against Xavier 76-72. UConn falls to 14-6 and 6-3 in the conference.

Solo Ball led UConn with 20 points and a career-high 11 rebounds, while Samson Johnson added 12 points and five blocks, tied for a career high. Aidan Mahaney chipped in 14 points off the bench, while Hassan Diarra added 12 points, four rebounds, and five assists.

In a game UConn could never really gain control of despite leading at halftime, one made three in the second half ultimately buried the Huskies. UConn committed 13 turnovers — many of them leading to easy baskets — that compounded the cold shooting performance. Looking at it with the glass half full, UConn fought back from a 10-point deficit three separate times and looked resilient in front of a raucous home crowd that peppered Dan Hurley early and often.

Diarra tried to set the tone early but had to sit with foul trouble. Defensively, UConn continued to struggle in 1-on-1 situations, getting beat on the dribble and then over-helping. Twice the Huskies found themselves down 10, and twice they brought it back to a two-possession game within two minutes.

UConn eventually settled into a rhythm on offense and Ball continued to be ridiculously automatic, but Dailyn Swain — or any Xavier driver really — had little to no resistance getting to the rim. After some nice moments from Mahaney, the Huskies grabbed their first lead at 2:22. Despite losing the points-in-the-paint battle and rebounding margin, UConn entered the break up one with Mahaney scoring or assisting on their last 10 points.

For every Ball basket, Xavier hunted the sophomore on the other end. Loose balls and second chances kept coming for the Muskies, with UConn committing the cardinal sin of ball watching far too often. As fouls and turnovers piled up, every potential splash that briefly quieted the crowd, was negated by a turnover or rimmed out three.

Two big examples that stood out: A nasty block off the backboard by Johnson was followed by a Ball turnover in transition. And when Ball finally got one to drop to halt a 8-0 run, Mahaney fouled Dante Maddox on a made three.

Xavier got in the bonus at 11:19 off of Karaban’s fourth foul, forcing Hurley into some double big action with Johnson and Reed, but the Muskies continued to live at the rim. UConn started attacking the basket more and drew some fouls, which brought the tempo back to where the Huskies wanted it.

Hurley threw Karaban back in at 7:58 after a Diarra turnover and rare Ball miss. Another trey from Maddox — who is quickly becoming a UConn killer — put them down nine, with the lid closing on the basket despite a slew of good looks. Karaban fouled out at 3:27 and facing another nine-point deficit, a tall task was ahead. But another slick Mahaney drive and a breakaway slam from Ross brought UConn — for what felt like the umpteenth time — back from the dead. A big and-one from Zach Freemantle was countered by three freebies from Ball, cutting Xavier’s lead to two with 1:16 left.

Johnson forced Freemantle and Dayvion McKnight into two tough shots at the rim, and with 42.2 left, UConn had a chance to tie it. A Ball triple rimmed out, but Diarra skied in out of nowhere for the offensive board and another crack at it. But Xavier blew up the actions resulted in a broken play, and Ross’ floater didn’t get off in time.

Marcus Foster converted the free throws and UConn came up short. Kudos to the team for battling back consistently, but 1-11 from three in the second half won’t win many games, especially with the well-publicized defensive issues.

The Huskies head back home and return to action Wednesday night, where they will take on DePaul at the XL Center. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m.